Where to find the National Park experience, without the crowds
Last year more than 300 million people visited our national parks; maybe you were one of them. That’s more than the number of people who went to every Disney park, NASCAR race, NBA, NFL, and MLB game combined.
There’s no way around it, our national parks are more popular than ever — and that’s great. In 2015, national park visitors spent $17 billion in local gateway communities, supported 295 thousand jobs, and generated $32 billion in economic output. In 2010, Americans spent $646 billion on outdoor recreation and the recreation economy is still growing.
But with our national parks’ expanding economic footprint comes crowded trails, long lines, and traffic jams. In 2015, Zion National Park broke record visitation with over 3.5 million visitors. NPR reports that lines to get onto the park’s shuttle bus reached as deep as 300 people. Even with the shuttle system, Zion saw over 150,000 cars pass through its gates this July.
America loves the outdoors. The lines at our national parks are proof. But some say the park experience — solitude and the quiet appreciation of nature, outside of the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life — isn’t compatible with skyrocketing visitation numbers.
To some extent that’s true, but it certainly doesn’t tell the whole story.
The West is home to some of the nation’s most iconic (and most visited) national parks — like Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Zion, and the Grand Canyon — but the park experience doesn’t stop there. National monuments (think large landscapes of cultural or scientific value, not the Statue of Liberty), Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas, National Recreation Areas, National Conservation Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Scenic and Historic Trails, and National Historical Parks all offer world-class outdoor experiences without the overcrowding of big-name parks.
This year, dodge the crowds and visit some of these often overlooked, but equally spectacular, landscapes.
Upper Missouri River Breaks
MONTANA
The Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument spans 149 miles of the Missouri River and the Lewis and Clark National Historical Trail. Between May 24 and June 13, 1805, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent three weeks exploring the badlands of the Upper Missouri River. Captain Clark, inspired by the famous White Cliffs (pictured above), wrote, “The hills and river clifts, which we passed today exhibit a most romantic appearance” with “eligant ranges of lofty freestone buildings, having their parapets well stocked with statuary” and “seens of visionary enchantment.”
Today you can float along the same segment of the river as Lewis and Clark over two centuries before. Much of the monument is not accessible by road, encouraging visitors to leave the crowds behind and explore Montana on foot.
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
WYOMING
Perhaps Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area’s most photographed view, Devil’s Canyon overlook (pictured above) looks out over stunning limestone cliffs, deposited 359 million to 318 million years ago when northern Wyoming was deep underwater and eroded by the Bighorn River 1,000 feet below. Follow the river to Bighorn Lake where visitors swim, water ski, camp, and fish for walleye and sauger along secluded banks.
This year, Bighorn Canyon National Recreation area turns 50. Visit the park in October to celebrate the park’s rededication and many years of recreation opportunities to come.
Organ Mountains–Desert Peaks National Monument
NEW MEXICO
With deeply crevassed peaks rising dramatically from the floor of the Chihuahuan Desert, it’s easy to see how the Organ Mountains got their name. Only two years old, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks is one of our youngest national monuments. The short life of of the monument belies its long and storied past. The rock art, ancient dwellings, and cultural artifacts are testimony to over 10,000 years of human history, the caves of the Organ Mountains conceal some of the few well preserved skeletons of 11,000-year-old giant ground sloths, and the sheer granite cliffs, thought to be around 1 billion years old, formed before life had made it out of the water and onto land.
Today, Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks offers miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, extensive climbing routes, and world-class camping.
Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve
COLORADO
A lucky combination of sandy, dried up lake beds, a natural “pocket” in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, and opposing wind directions brought the dunes of Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park to life. At the top of High Dune, a 699 foot elevation gain from the valley floor below (and nearly 9,000 feet above sea level), visitors are surrounded by 30 square miles of dune field with the peaks of the Sangres looming to the west. While some choose to hike back down after making the climb to High Dune, others take the faster route and sandboard or sand sled their way to the bottom.
There’s still time this summer to explore the tallest sand dunes in North America, and then come back next spring to splash in Medano Creek, the seasonal river that flows down from the Sangre de Cristos to the base of the dunes.
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
ARIZONA
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is one of only 302 International Biosphere Reserves in the world, recognized in 1976 by the United Nations for balancing the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use. Despite common misconceptions, life abounds in the desert — the monument preserves over 330,000 acres of the Sonoran Desert, the most biologically diverse desert in North America.
The park’s namesake is only one of 28 different species of cacti visitors are likely to see. Pronghorns, mountain lions, javelinas, bighorns, and the little kangaroo rat are only a few of the 49 mammals native to the “Green Desert.”
Natural Bridges National Monument
UTAH
Natural Bridges is Utah’s very first national monument, predating the National Park Service itself. On April 16, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt signed the proclamation to protect Natural Bridges, only his 8th national monument. Nearly a century later, Natural Bridges was named the world’s first International Dark-Sky Park, another well-deserved first.
The monument’s three spectacular natural bridges are named “Sipapu,” “Kachina,” and “Owachomo,” for the Native Americans who made this landscape their home. Sipapu and Owachomo (pictured above) are Hopi words, meaning “place of emergence” and “rock mound” respectively. Kachina is named for the rock art found on the bridge: a series of symbols often found on kachina dolls.
Great Basin National Park
NEVADA
Another International Dark-Sky Park, Great Basin National Park has some of the country’s darkest nights. And with one visitor for every 47 to the Grand Canyon, just five hours away, the dark nights of Great Basin can be spent in silence and solitude under the stars. There aren’t many places left where you can see five of our solar system’s eight planets, the Andromeda Galaxy 2.5 million light-years away from Earth, and our own Milky Way Galaxy with the naked eye.
With over 60 miles of hiking trails, from the 13,000 foot summit of Wheeler Peak to the valley floor below, Great Basin during the day is almost as spectacular as the night.
Craters of the Moon National Monument
IDAHO
In August, 1969, Apollo 14 astronauts Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, Joe Engle, and Eugene Cernan arrived at Craters of the Moon National Monument, just over a year before they would become the third manned moon landing. They visited the monument’s strange, volcanic landscape because, geologically speaking, it was about as close as you could get to being on the moon without leaving home.
With five “lava tube” caves to explore and miles of trails, Craters of the Moon is paradise for the adventurous hiker.
These seven landscapes are set apart from Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands by their protected status, but when it comes down to it every acre of U.S. public land is owned by the American public. So get outside and find your park experience, without the crowds.
